Age of Titans
The Age of Titans The Age of Titans was a period from approximately 20,000-1500BC in the region the Nesarian Empire currently inhabits that was believed to be the period of the most intense magic usage in history, and it is generally thought that it was when magic was created. It is believed that it was during the Age of Titans that the Great Shield was formed, which blocked off access to the outside world for nearly 21,000 years. Much of the life that existed during this period would now be considered utterly alien. The Age of Titans was characterised by the presence of extremely large lifeforms that did not die of old age known as Titans, and fantastical geography created and sustained by magic, almost unrecognisable when compared to the modern geography of the region. Hominid civilisations struggled to develop, with hominids mainly living in small tribal communities. However, where civilisations did show up, they thrived, as they had won the alliegance of one or more Titans. The level of technological and societal development in these civilisations would not be matched until approximately the 15th century. Some regions had irregular or unchanging weather and seasons, caused by magic. Some areas had permanent summer or winter, others had seemingly random seasons, some were constantly foggy, others never rained and a select few areas had constant thunderstorms. The Age of Titans was brought to a spectacular end by "The Annihilation", in which the Titans went to war with each other and slaughtered not only each other but the self-contained world they inhabited, killing up to three-quarters of the population, every single Titan except the Old Tree and destroying much of the technology that had been developed. The Annihilation is considered to be the War for Heaven by Elvetans, a central theme of the religion. Some descendants of the Titans still survive, significantly smaller but still larger and more fantastical than most other life on Earth. The Dragons, Leviathans and Rexadas are examples. All the evidence for the Age of Titans comes from archaelogical evidence and written records. Most of these are carvings, however some records written on paper were copied by future generations and survive to this day. The oldest, which is also the oldest evidence of written language in the world, dates from 13,000 BC. The names of the Titans are literally translated from their ancient names written down during the time (in some cases they have been altered to avoid confusion with modern animals, for example the Rexada King was just referred to as "Rexada" in the ancient sources). The Titans * Flame-Bearer * Grand Leviathan * Winter Queen * The Watchman Lesser Titans * Rexada King * Flower Guardian Flora and Fungi The Age of Titans also had some extremely large flora and fungi. Examples include: * The Old Tree * Fruit of Hermegora * Taelgona's Rot Geography Nesaria At this time, Nesaria was significantly deeper, with the base of the Nesarian Basin being approximately a mile below sea level. Approximately half of this was taken up with water, with the other half being filled with floating islands sustained by magic. What is believed to be the earliest form of Dragons lived on these, as well as some Humans and Elves. Hegari may have also lived in the water and the islands close to them, but the evidence for this is shaky. The islands were connected and held in place with immense tree roots. Each island held one or more large evergreen trees that resembled oaks (possibly the same species as the Old Tree in Estemoria), and it is believed that these were all connected and were actually the same tree. This would make the tree the largest organism to ever live. Each creature that lived in Nesaria at this time was either winged or had excellent climbing abilities in order to move between the islands. The hominids simply built bridges. Nesaria had the lowest number of Titans, having four, three of which were Grand Leviathans and one of which was the Winter Queen. However, it had a normal level of Lesser Titans, for example it housed a sizeable colony of Rexada Kings. The only "true" island was Winter Island (almost six times as large as it is now), in which the Winter Queen lived. The Grand Leviathans lived in the sea and the Rexada Kings lived on the larger islands. Nesaria was in a constant state of mild summer except for Winter Island, which was permanently in winter.